University Thesis Survey

I am a final year student at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, currently working on my dissertation (the final year thesis).

My thesis is based around the effects of introducing self-select-airport security screening lanes on passenger satisfaction and airport operations. The idea stems back from reading about trials at Phoenix in the mid-2000s. Self-select, basically means that Frequent Fliers, Casual Fliers and Families or people with special needs pass through separate security lanes. The security check is identical at all checkpoints, the difference is that personnel is trained for the particular lanes and that less experienced fliers have more time, while experienced fliers can pass through faster.

As part of my research I have created a survey for primary data collection from passengers to essentially establish what passengers think of self-select security screening lanes. The survey will take around five minutes and is available in English only.

I would be very thankful if you could spare five minutes and complete the survey, as a large proportion of frequent fliers is necessary for the results to be statistically significant. Depending on the outcomes of the research, this work could provide an academic basis and justification for the introduction of alternative processes at airports outside of the US.

Thank you very much for the responses, always good to get a little discussion going.

I am aware that the system is in place at some check-points across the US. Part of my research has been with Airport Staff on determining the operational requirements for the system to work efficiently and down to the point of its intention. The results indicate that managing the number of lanes open for different groups is the key to success.
I.e. there should never be a scenario where there are more casual flyers at the one lane than expert flyers at another. This would be inefficient and obviously cause people to pass over to the wrong lane. So it depends on the managers fine-tuning and experience.

The aim of this survey, is just to find out what passengers and particularly FFs think about the idea in general. If well executed, would it make you happier?

You might want to take into consideration the U.S. culture. That is everyone being in it for themselves. I have regularly seen people just go for the shortest lane out there, frequent fliers into the family lane, and vice-versa.

I would even suggest that many people, even some frequent fliers have no idea about these lanes.

I have seen many TSA screeners direct people to the shortest line.

When it comes to airport "security," most people will say the right things to cameras and microphones, but when it comes to affecting themselves personally, they want none of the shenanigans that regularly goes on and just want to get the hell out of there.

Personally, I think we should just allocate enough staff to the security checkpoints to guarantee that anyone can get through the screening in five minutes or less. It's just utterly ridiculous that we have people stand in line for 30-45 mins at times just because we don't have all the lanes open. What's the economic impact of that waste of time?

A number of measures were also discussed with industry professionals and will be discussed in my work. But I agree, the biggest problem is getting the right people into the right lanes.

Do you think people go for the shortest lines, because that is what they are used to, or are they aware of the fact that the shortest may not be the fastest lane?

I absolutely agree with the economic impact the waiting has, too. This is why, in the survey, I asked for general waiting time, longest waiting time and also number of flights missed due to screening delays. The economic impact may be huge and is part of the justification why the system should be improved in the first place.

Do you think people go for the shortest lines, because that is what they are used to, or are they aware of the fact that the shortest may not be the fastest lane?

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The fastest lane, by definition, is any lane that my wife doesn't pick. No, it's not her causing the delay, but she has a knack for picking the slowest lane. Someone in front of her will stall the whole thing... whether it's at TSA or immigration or the grocery store.

I absolutely agree with the economic impact the waiting has, too. This is why, in the survey, I asked for general waiting time, longest waiting time and also number of flights missed due to screening delays. The economic impact may be huge and is part of the justification why the system should be improved in the first place.

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I have never missed a flight. But I am arriving early at the airport so that I can catch the flight whether TSA takes 5 mins or 45 mins.

I must be related to HaveMilesWillTravel's wife, as I often end up in the lane that moves the slowest. What drives me nuts is the inefficiency of it all. I do not get why some TSA agents will stare and stare at the screens when they are unsure of what they are seeing in the luggage. Are they hoping for divine inspiration? Why not just either resend the bag through again at a different angle, or ask the passenger to remove some items to run through separately, or just call for a bag check instead of halting the entire line. I have given up hope of people in the elite lines always knowing what to do, or being able to get themselves through quickly, as there is always someone that seems to be utterly clueless holding up the line while various items in their bags are removed. I once saw the extra large size bottle of Gain laundry detergent in the trash can at the security checkpoint.

Do you think people go for the shortest lines, because that is what they are used to, or are they aware of the fact that the shortest may not be the fastest lane?

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In my opinion, most will go for the shortest line, period. If you want an example, drive on the highway (or whatever they are called in your area), see how many people will pass you on a two-lane road in the slow lane, only to get stuck behind someone who is ahead of you, but not far enough to pull in front of you.

Student said:

I absolutely agree with the economic impact the waiting has, too. This is why, in the survey, I asked for general waiting time, longest waiting time and also number of flights missed due to screening delays. The economic impact may be huge and is part of the justification why the system should be improved in the first place.

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Personally, I don't think most people miss flights because of routine security screening. People who miss flights, I feel, are business fliers who guess wrong on how long they think it takes to get through security and/or people with special circumstances, such as running into uneducated screeners who don't know how to handle people with specific medical conditions.

You also have to remember the old "70/30" rule (70 percent of the revenue on an average plane load is made up of 30% of the people on board). Thus, by that crude statistic, seven out of 10 people on a plane are seldom/rare fliers, and thus are the ones who feel it necessary to show up two or three hours before a flight. And they will likely have no trouble getting through security as far as time goes.

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